PAT TOHILL'S RETURN

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 5 December 1929, Page 5

PAT TOHILL'S RETURN

A STRANGE STORY OF THE WAR «By Telegraph—Special to "The Mail") AUCKLAND, 4th December. "Good Lord, listen to this!" -was the exclamation which Mr Dan Tohill heard from his wife as he settled down to reading a beok after a late turn of work in his garden in Chappel Square, off Wyndham street last evening. Mrs Tohill waS reading Auckland "Star," and in tones of amazement she repeated the first paragraph of the telegram from Dunedin reporting the return to his home of Patrick Tohfll, her husband's youngest brother, who enlisted in, the early days of the' Great War at the age of 17 years, and was believed to have been killed. "It was a great shock to us, Mr Dan Tohill said this morning when he was called on at the city warehouse where he works. ' "At first we could hardly believe the news, but as the names in the message were correct I lost no time in sending a telegram to my father. Half an hour after I returned from the post office a telegram came from him stating, 'Pat home, all well. A second brother, Mr Raphael Tohill, lives next to the Police Station at New Lynn. Five brothers went to the war, and until a few days ago it was believed that the only one who returned was Tom, who came back wounded, and is now living at Napier. Willie and Alban were killed on Gallipoli, and Charlie was killed in France. The story of Pat is surely one of the strangest arising from the war. Tall, fair and curly-headed, he left school early and was for two years working on a farm on the Peninsula in Otago. Twice in the first year of the war he attempted to enlist, but on each occasion his age was a bar. At that time his brother Dan was residing in Christchurch, and to that home Pat went for a brief visit. Dan had been advised by his father to keep an eye on Pat, as he had twice attempted to enlist, and was still too young for active service. Pat had his own plan of action. Stating that lie was going to work on a farm at Methven, he left the home in Burlington street, Sydenham, and by his relatives was not seen again. They were told that he had enlisted, but the records did not disclose his name and neither could they ascertain the name under which he had been accepted by the authorities. "Somewhere in France," was the heading of a letter which came above the signature of "Pat" towards the end of 1916. It stated that the writer had been in the thick of the fighting and that at the time of writing he was behind the lines. No further word came, and as the years slipped by after the Armistice members of the family gave up hope which all the time had been growing more slender.

the one slight inaccuracy in the published message from Dunedin. was the statement that Pat was last seen by his parents in Canterbury in 1911. Mrs Tohill died 23 years ago. At the time of Pat's departure Mr Tohill was employed at the Hillside railway workshops, Dunedin, but he retired from that position about ten years ago. While awaiting further news by letter the brothers in Auckland are accepting as correct the Press Association message which states that Pat was wounded in France, that he suffered from shell shock, and that as a result of memory lapses he has since wandered aimlessly around the world. "I have three weeks' holiday due to me," said Mr Dan Tohill, "and I have decided to go and see my father and young brother in Dunedin.